I switched to the dvorak layout in my early twenties and it's been well worth it. It's not so much about speed, as it is about accuracy, and especially about comfort. As a full time software engineer, I certainly noticed the difference.

I would recommend in switching that you do NOT move your keycaps around, or draw new letters on your keyboard, or any other mental crutch, but instead simply memorize the new layout mentally. It won't take long, and that small step will hasten your transition.

There were a few interesting side effects during the transition however, that highlight some of the more amusing ways that our brains work. For the first couple of days, I realized that I could no longer spell some words -- my life is so terminal oriented that much of my rote spelling knowledge was based on muscle memory.

I also remember that, in the first couple of days when I was feeling really inept at the keyboard, that feeling also carried over into regular voice conversations -- I had to remind myself that I wasn't speaking impaired, only typing impaired.

That said, I easily surpassed my old qwerty performance within the first several days.

During the transition, it was an added challenge to do everything, and that sort of reminded me of how the older generation of punch card programmers often described their work. Suddenly it became more efficient to think about the problem harder before trying solutions, increasing the chance of success, rather than just firing rapidly from initial thoughts until I had bludgeoned a solution.

Finally, I will say that there are few things more entertaining than switching some new Windows admin 's keyboard to dvorak, watching him come into work and be bewildered for 30 minutes at why his keyboard is behaving strangely. Then, when he invariably mentions the problem, walk up, type a few sentences, and walk away. "Works fine for me. I don't know what your problem is..."